The couple traveled two more days following the cliff's edge. They had seen mountains in the distance. In the past they found many good sites for portals near mountains and hoped to finish setting their last three around these.
The lands began to rise as they approached them. It seemed like everywhere they went there were plenty of creatures to hunt. The only exception was desert areas and heavily populated areas. They found a cave that was deep on the side of a hill. They didn't go all the way inside it. That could be accomplished by players. It would provide a different option for people. This site would support thousands of people for a while. Not to mention the lizard men weren't too far away.
They set up a gate fifty feet inside the tunnel. Then returned to Earth again. Braxton sent a message to his father that this site was okay for long ranged rifles. He also added that it could support at least one thousand players. He only sent a text with images of the cave and the wildlife outside of it.
Braxton Sr. called him "That looks like a good site. Business has picked up again. Can you that another batch of gates soon?"
"I'm finding suitable sights as fast as I can. It takes time exploring a planet. I get why you want to rush it but, it won't work like that. I could use two of the canteen upgrades for our suits. I got some creature data to send. We encountered some deadly cats that were immune to energy weapons and small arms too. I've included the location were we found them. People in that area should be made aware." Jr. replied.
"Okay, I'll make a note of it. When do you think you can setup more gates?" Sr. inquired.
"Well you should dispatch people to set up gates between the ones I put up. Ones people can use to return home when they travel. Not as starting locations. I've been placing most of them as far apart as I can. When I can find decent locations. We have a spot we want to explore more after we finish this batch. If your people find good starting locations let them sort it out. Just make sure they keep starting locations space apart well enough. We could also use some dirt bikes. The northern region is different and we want to explore that more. Our mounts don't like the air up there. It might be suitable for humans without suits. We haven't made any kills up there so we don't know if the blood and meat are of any use." Jr notified his father.
"Okay, I'll send two dirt bikes and two suit upgrades. Do you need anything else?" Sr. questioned.
"Just some bigger handguns. We will go visit the gun store and handle that ourselves. Did the scientists get the reports finished on the water samples I sent?" Jr asked.
"They said it was breathable. Like the liquid from the suits the navy deep divers used. Where did you find it?" Sr inquired.
"At the northern most waypoint. There is a whole sea of it. I could set up another one on the beach there for a vacation get away. There is a holy sight of some sort in that area. It would be best to mark that site off limits until I can clear it up with the locals. I'll send coordinates on that too." Jr. responded.
"Okay sounds good. Keep up the good work. I'll send out more teams. Call me when you have more time. The sites you've found have been exceptional. The feedback we've been getting is all positive. I'll talk to you again soon." Sr ended the call.
Braxton called Jax and Mr Smith after to discuss business as well. Both were doing well. Jax had a decent amount of weapons both melee from Smith and ranged from Vector. Smith was making weapons as fast as he could. He had hired an apprentice to beef up his output too.
The sales had netted another fifteen million dollars for the rare weapons. The extra power cells from the northern areas sold like wildfire. Jax knew to deplete them for users with southern weapons and charged a recharge fee. He smiled every time he did it too.
The couple went to the gun store and got another set of .50 Desert Eagles for Braxton with a dozen clips. The auto reload kicked in and filled his harness. When Vixen saw that she said "Get me one of those harnesses right now!"
"I'll have to call my dad for that. I'll just send a text. It'll be at the apartment the next time we stop. Let's get back and finish our task so we can play again for a while." Braxton rebutted her request with a proposition of his own.
"We can leave in the morning. Make the call now. I'll make it worth your while." She pleaded with his baser instincts and he folded like origami.
The suit upgrades arrived along with the harness for Vixen the next morning. The dirt bikes arrived after they left. The canteen upgrades conformed to their backs and would hold up to five liters of water each. They still had the original canteens but, the new ones had tube going into the helmets. When they wanted to drink, it would squirt into their open mouths.
Vixen's suit took a lot longer to absorb and connect with the combat harness. Wether it was because it was heavy armor vs light armor or the age of her suit vs his they didn't know. "Should we request a newer suit of armor for you?" Braxton asked Vixen while they waited.
"Nope, this one has saved my life many times. I don't know if I'd be comfortable with a new one. It might sap away my confidence and get me killed." Vixen replied stoically.
They traveled another day before reaching the edge of the mountain range. There were a few spots were the stones had crumbed away but, other than that the face was a sheer surface going straight up into the clouds. Braxton walked up close and looked straight up trying to see the top.
Vixen commented "You'll break your neck if you keep trying to see the top."
"Okay then, we will call them the Breakneck Mountains. Let's follow along and see if we can find a cave to drop another portal in." Braxton mounted back up and the pair traveled east again.
They found another cave after two days. This one wasn't empty. It had a large humanoid creature guarding it. It was heavily armored. The skin on it was black as coal. It's eyes blazed like they were actually made of fire. It held a wicked looking two handed sword that looked like jagged black glass. He, she or it was eight feet tall and looked full of power.
The figure had spikes coming off from its body in many different places. It had horns on its head too. It looked evil and menacing as if it could suck the soul out of your body just by looking at you.
"Have you seen anything that looks like that before?" Braxton asked as he passed the railgun to Vixen. He wanted her to view the horned beast he had seen.
"No, that looks evil. I'd say shoot it from here and hope it dies. If it does, we run like hell." Vixen said plainly.
Braxton handed her one of the two remaining gates and said "If this goes sideways don't hesitate to open a portal and get out of here. We can't lead that thing back to a portal that is in use by other people."
Vixen nodded her ascent while Braxton summoned the pulse rocket launcher. "We run different directions. If the railgun fails, I'll try the rocket launcher to buy you time. Don't waste it." He said with a grin.
After readying the rocket, he returned it to storage. Then took careful aim at the creatures head. He locked on the eyes. They looked hollow with flames licking out of them. He gently squeezed the trigger. The small projectile screamed across the expanse and went inside the head. The flames exploded out of the sockets ten feet. The creature raised its sword and looked in Braxton's direction. Then raised its finger on the other hand and shook it back and forth.
Chills raced up Braxton's spine. "Holy shit that was creepy!"
He didn't stop looking at the creature and the creature didn't stop staring at him either. "Let's go, I don't think he is going to chase us. I think he is guarding something. I don't think he will be forgiving if I try to shoot him again." Braxton recalled his weapon to his storage.
They both mounted up and rode two more days going wide around that creature. They found several caves along that wall but, after the initial one they weren't real fond of going inside them. They found a circle of stones a mile away from the mountain and setup another portal. Then headed south again.
"Do you think that might have been a creature from another level?" Vixen inquired.
"Yes, I have no idea what it would take to kill it. I wonder if we will get magical powers on other levels. Here has to be some why of fighting something like that." Braxton's inner gamer was in overdrive since he had seen the thing.
"Let's go south. I don't see an end to this wall. We have one more gate to setup. I'd like to find one more good spot." Braxton replied.
The skies south parted ahead of them. It looked like another indication of a desert. They were going around it when Alpha chimed in "Player in the vicinity." The green arrow lit up out into the desert.
"I got a player indicator notification. There shouldn't be another player anywhere near here now. We should check it out tonight. It can't be more than five miles away. It might be a combat suit and a storage upgrade." Braxton stated.
"I like the sounds of that." Vixen replied.
"We got some time before dark let's get a kill and cook some blood. Nothing to big." Braxton suggested.
"I'll go kill something you get the fuel for the fire." Vixen called dibs.
"Damnit, one of these days I'll learn my lesson. Okay be careful." Braxton replied.
She returned half hour later with an armored creature that looked like a giant armadillo. It stood two feet off the ground. The armor plating was extremely thick. "Did you shoot that thing?" Braxton asked.
"In the head, yes. The armor defected my .50 cal. It didn't even scratch the surface of its shell. Damn thing turned and tried to chase me." Vixen respond disdainfully.
"That will make it taste better." Braxton retorted.
"If we can get the meat out of the shell." Vixen stated.
"You got a big strong sword. You killed it you skin it." Braxton said. Then added "Don't damage the armor we can trade it for different mounts."
"Sure thing. Celious would like this material I'm sure." Vixen returned.
After dusk they headed into the desert. They found a concrete building with a large metal door. It looked like and Aircraft hanger. The thing was massive and was totally out of place. It was gray in color and the door on the side was brown. The door was open slightly. Nothing of any size could be inside.
Braxton pulled the door open and went inside. It was completely dark. He summoned a flare and sparked it. He found the place looked like a warehouse of military supplies. There were vehicles, M-16, rocket launchers, mortars and so much more it wasn't even funny. The place had enough firepower to wage a war for a few days.
"Damn sugar, you got a nose for finding shit." Vixen let out a long whistle.
"Grab some rockets for yourself. I don't think anyone will miss them." Braxton replied calmly.
The couple wandered around for a couple hours. Vixen said "This stuff has been here a while. It's all old surplus. It's still good but, it's pre WIII materials. It's all got to be like forty to fifty years old."
At the back of the hanger they found an older gate. It still had power. "I'm not seeing our Player inside here and I lost that signal when we came inside. I'm not eager to just walk into a portal we don't know anything about." Braxton stated flatly.
"Mark the coordinates and see if we can get any information out of your father. This is a boarder line life threatening discovery." Vixen added.
"Yeah, we will proceed with caution on this one for sure." Braxton agreed.